Excited at the season start.. on paper it promises to be unpredictable. All testing hints lead to Ferrari being a real challenger to Mercedes. RedBull are an unknown quantity with them testing the basic package and leaving out the extras. Williams look to be prepared for the start, but Paddy couldn't have been waiting up to now to start. In all probability time lapsed was used for assesment of the state od things at Williams. I personally am expecting more focus on the timing of current planned upgrades from the team and further focus on upgrades that will enable greatest progress to Williams. Roll on with 2017 down under ;-)

I would hope that Williams counted on Paddy joining us as soon as the botas deal got serious
and held back with a direction for upgrades till they got his input and that would save a good chunk of money if I was to hazard a guess.

So if that is what happened at grove and to be honest the launch car did look a little under developed considering when they started the FW40 then I would think 3 races in we should see which way they are developing with new upgrade packages coming quite quick.

I don't think Williams are currently doing anything clever with their suspension, and from the sound of it, there are a number of solutions out there, which, last year, were considered legal and presumably still are. I read Mercedes, Ferrari, RedBull, Force India and Toro Rosso were all running non-standard suspension systems by the end of 2016. That may even be how FI outdeveloped Williams. It's only this year that it seems a few teams have pushed the boundaries too far.

the point im making is, Williams have some permissable capacity for development here that they are not, currently, exploiting.

Enter Paddy Lowe- who surprise surprise, worked on Williams' electronic active ride suspension in the 1990's, and who was Technical Director at Mercedes when they were pushing the limits of mechanically adjusting suspensions and front and rear synchronicity. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Paddy hadn't been a tad more risky/experimental during his final months at Mercedes, investing in developing and testing out a solution that probably wouldn't be allowed, knowing that if it worked and was allowed, he could stick it on the Williams and if it wasn't, then the cost of finding out was shouldered by the team he was leaving, allowing him to learn what did work during the process and providing food for thought for alternative paths of development at his new team.

I think it's a matter of watch this space- but I'd expect Williams' suspension system will be changing soon.

On suspension design, you can argue over one more thing top3 have done, it's not about how it perform but the placing of rolls in a way to disturb the air less for sipepod entry.Ferrari have gone for upper air entry except of adjusting roles in front if it.
There looks to be alot we can improve if the FW40 base allows for such improvements.
In my opinion, our car may have abit more potential to unlock immediately than those around us.we've been left without 2 top technical men for a long time and though there are others to fill in, we can expect of a bit of time wasted there, so maybe new staff joining can push developments faster than usual.

phatjack
Wow! Williams are faster than that "Girly Car"? I guess that makes the FW40 less girly?

Didn't Elvis Presley have a pink Cadillac?

Man you had to bring Elvis up today? Long live Rock and Roll ... had the pleasure of practicing safe sex at a time I was "Too pooped to pop". Seems this board gets a "woody" every time williams looks to be making forward progress against a "Pink Team".

"When you talk, you are repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new." - Dalai Lama

Williams have more ladies named claire in the team. Williams have a paddy working for them. Williams is the only team with a driver named lance. Williams have the fastest blue and white car on the grid. There is a few. Paddy is cruel to say this for you guys.

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